Quick Q and A with Dave Crossland
 by Kathy S-B  ·  29 March 2008

Dave Crossland has been haunting the local music scene in Boston for some time and that’s how I’ve gotten to hear him. His last CD “Pearl” was on heavy rotation on my CD player for months and it is highly recommended. I dare you to listen to “Madison Rose” or “Easy Money” and not have them stuck in your head for the rest of the week. He is teamed up with his producer, Jim Infantino, for next week’s show at the me&thee. It’s going to be a great time, that’s for sure. Check out Dave’s music at his website. Don’t miss this historic video of Dave performing with the late John Stewart at the Birchmere in 2001 or this lovely rendition of “Pearl.”

Tell us about your 1949 Gibson. How did you two meet?

It was a cold day in Akron, Ohio, when I was recording basic tracks for Molly’s Street. We were trying to get the right sound out of my guitar at the time, but were having no luck. So my friend Tate, whom I’ve known since we were three years old and playing in the sandbox between our houses, suggested we call Tom. Tom had a music store not far from the studio and was notorious for not selling the most coveted items in his shop, namely his constant stream of newly acquired old Gibson guitars. (It is my theory to this day that Tom’s store is not really a store at all, but a front for his classic Gibson collection.)

But instead of Tom on the phone, we get Kathy, who informs us that Tom is out in the parking lot right now, taking a new old Gibson off a guy who had just driven in from West Virginia. She says “it’s pretty rough lookin’.” Immediately, we drop everything we are doing and beat a path straight to the “music store.”

Tom is indeed in the last stages of his negotiation with the West Virginian and it’s freezing outside, so we go in, talk to Kathy, and wait. Next thing you know, Tom opens the door, walks directly to where I’m perched on a stool, and puts the guitar in my hands, and watches. Tom is an old hippie. He has never strayed from the hippie path. And if you are not worthy of an instrument, it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, he will not sell it to you. Never mind the fact that he wants it for his collection.

It’s a classic old thing. My blood pressure rises, I act cool, I touch the strings, and in 5 seconds, I know. This is the guitar I have been trying to find for the last several years of my life.

I will spare you the details of the negotiation that ensued. Come to a show sometime and I’ll tell you more about it. But let’s just say it was February, damn cold, Tom’s gas bill was due the next day, and his wife was there…

Your college thesis was about Woody Guthrie. What is it about Woody’s music that inspired you to devote your thesis to it?

When I was growing up, Woody Guthrie was revered by so many people I knew that, for me, there was no escaping the question of “Who was Woody, really?” That he was from Oklahoma and considered a leftist made the question even more intriguing. I mean, how many commies really come from Oklahoma? And why did some of his songs feel completely natural and free, and others feel like they had an agenda? So, I decided to read everything I could get my hands on to find out how he grew up and came to his ideas. I knew he couldn’t be the perfect populist legend that the folk music community might mythologize him to be. I mean, if you grew up as a “creative type” in Oklahoma, came of age facing the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, couldn’t support your family, then suddenly found yourself adored and hugely popular among leftist intellectuals in California and New York, what kind of understanding would you have of the world? And what would it all mean in regard to your creative passion ?

What other musicians have been inspirational to you?

Other musicians. Oh man, this one is hard because I’m afraid of leaving someone out. John Stewart would occupy the top three. The Beatles, too. And after those top three, it’s a free-for-all among Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams, Woody, Arlo & Pete, Dylan, The Corries, Bob Marley, Aaron Copeland, Richard Thompson, Mark Knopfler, Tom Waits, Springsteen, Julie London, Billie Holiday, Sonny Rollins, Miles, Jimmy Cliff, David Hammond, Tommy Sands, Ludwig Van, Donovan, Jean Ritchie, Vaughan Williams, Mary Black, The Monkees — see what I mean? I better stop before this takes up too much room….

Your CD “Pearl” has been hailed as your best thus far. I love the reviewer that says of it: “What a Repeat Button Was Made For.” It seems to be one of those CDs that strikes different people different ways — it’s folk; it’s pop, it’s genre bending for sure. How would you describe your style?

Hmm, I don’t actually know what my style is. I just like to get into a song so that I can sing and play it the way it feels. I don’t mean to dodge the question, here. I just see music as emotion. That’s really it. Without the emotion, all you have is notes and rhythms. And you have to sing a song or play it the way you feel it or it just doesn’t work. I’d rather leave it for others to describe my style. All I can say is that it sometimes comes out rocking, sometimes like a lullaby, sometimes a little sultry, sometimes very rough, but it all hangs together, and hopefully it’s always me.

What’s the story behind the story of your latest CD, “The Set That Wasn’t.”

The Set That Wasn’t is really my first concept album. It is the actual set I was going to play at the Kerrville Folk Festival last year — featuring the band that was going to play it. That’s right, I had brought a kickin’ band down from Boston to Texas to play mainstage on the night of my birthday. It was an awesome position in the lineup, too — right before the headliner on a packed weekend — but the rain came down and they called the show 15 minutes before we were supposed to go on. I’ve wanted to play that festival my entire adult life, so putting this CD together was a way of making something fun out of something pretty unfortunate. There’s more to the story, which is much better told in the liner notes. Of course, there’s only one way to get the liner notes….

Oh, I should mention that there’s only one thing better than listening to The Set That Wasn’t, and that is to experience The Set That Damn Well Is Going To Happen. I’ve been invited to a rematch with Mother Nature, and we are to take the Kerrville Folk Festival mainstage on Saturday, May 24. We’ll be going on right before the headliner, Jimmy LaFave, on Memorial Day weekend. And there ain’t nothin’ gonna stop us this time.… I hope…